Denver, Colorado South Mission Spanish Speaking

8/11/2014 Camel DAY! (email #35)

THE WORK:
How blessed is it to be able to serve the Lord and progress His work?! I hope you are all able to see just how much this work is hastening! I would just like to glory for a minute about the greatness that is happening in the Spanish work in Montrose! So many people we are finding are just so ready for this gospel and Sister Noakes and I are just elated that we are able to find so many elect people who seem so ready to listen and accept this gospel into their lives! Seriously the other night when i was writing in my journal i was writing down all the amazing people that we are working with or have recently found and I counted over 12! The people here are ready. The work is booming. And we filling up the fonts! (Not that baptism is the end goal but we want to help people enter in onto that straight gate!). Now the people here of course aren’t perfect so we still do have the struggle of having all of them keep their appointments but these people do have good heads on their shoulders and I know this is what they have been all looking for even if they didnt know they were looking for anything 🙂

Just a quick example of someone that we found recently who we are excited about is a women named Noemi. She is someone we OYMed with the survey and as we were going she was telling us how her best friend is a mormon and that she has been wanting to learn more about the mormon beliefs. She has excellent faith. Great standards and understanding. And one thing that made us laugh was she said, “I could never be a mormon because i drink coffee.” Such a small little thing that when she understands the blessings that come from living the word of wisdom she will give up that coffee in a snap! She even answers the phone every time we call (do you know how rare that can be for missionaries???)! She is amazing and we have loved her from the start!

Another investigator we have who we love is a 17 year old girl named Tania. She lives in Olathe and absolutely loves learning from us. This past week we showed her the movie The Restoration and at the end she kept saying, “That was so interesting.” Now that’s not always the response that we love to hear but it certainly is when it is followed with, “I like the mormon beliefs because they all make sense!” And that’s not even the best part! The time before that we taught her the Plan of Salvation and she told us that she had been sharing what we taught her to her friends in need (one in particular that doesn’t believe in God) and her grandparents and family! She is already a missionary in the making!

Our other beloved investigator Maria Zavala lives the craziest life ever. She basically just has a lot on her plate and is always dealing with a lot of stress. She has gained her testimony of the Book of Mormon and knows it’s true, that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and that this church is true through reading it everyday and the last time we checked she was in Mosiah 26! She reads so she can feel more at peace because she always has so much going on and reading it makes her feel SOOOO much better! She wants baptism so bad but she is working on the obstacle of getting to church. She watches 9 kids on Sunday that she doesnt even get paid to do because her sister in law just drops them on her and gets upset if Maria takes them anywhere she wouldnt like (aka church). Members have been encouraging her to put her put down and not let her sister in law take advantage of her like that anymore and Maria is planning on it. This week we are praying we can get her to church. That is our miracle we will be seeking. I know it can happen!

So Ubaldo, not going to lie Sister Naokes and I were a little concerned for the time when we needed to teach him the Law of Tithing because he doesnt have a job and is living tight on money. We know of the blessing that come from tithing but we were concerned he wouldnt understand and that this might be a draw back for him. Silly us I know. Because after we had role played it so many different times we knew we were ready to teach it to him…. and Ubaldo is just straight up awesome:) So the entire time we were teaching all of the principles of tithing, fasting and fast offerings he was nodding along and eating it all up! I dont know why we were ever concerned about teaching this to him because Ubaldo already lives the definition of giving and service and sacrificing for others. When we were all done teaching his response to our commitment to pay an honest tithe after baptism was an, “Of course!” He truly is so ready for his baptism and we were put into his path because the Lord knew he was prepared for this.

Another thing that i would just like to glory about is how amazing the members of our branch are. They have already organized home teachers for Ubaldo because he has a baptismal date. I just love to see when people truly do fulfill their callings and give as much as they can to the Lord. I hope that I will always be ready to serve and continue progressing this work and whichever way the Lord calls me to serve.

HERMANA MCRAE:
– I might be getting a tad sick but a member was so gracious to give me 4 little beadlets of the “On Gaurd” essential oils last night and I think it helped (fingers crossed)
– This might go along with being a tad sick, but anytime me and my companion go somewhere weather far or close I’ve been able to get a little shut eye:) My companion is amazed at how fast I can fall asleep! I just tell her that we all have our special talents 😉
– We are all filled with dinners this month! We normally do pretty well but being all the way full is definitely an accomplishment (especially if you compare the elders calendars to ours- OUCH)!
– Mom everyone is jealous of the sandals you sent me and when anyone asks me where i got them from I just give them a goober smile and say MY MOM! 🙂
– I can tell that the summer season is at the close because when you are on as tight of a schedule as a missionary you can tell when it gets darker just 10 minutes earlier…
– we ran 4 miles one morning this week and the next day we timed how fast we could run one mile. Bishop made us all make guesses at what out times would be (yes he even participated) but I won both of the guesses on being the closest to both my time and Sister Noakes’ time. Mine was a 7:20 and her’s was an 8:00. We’re going to do a redo probably next week at an actual track though.
– We made “Mountain Woman Monday” Tshirts since that’s what we’ve been doing every monday (planning on continuing the tradition where ever I go) 🙂
– Decided I do not like eggplant
– Apparently I have a true mexican tongue now because I dont tear up eating the chile’s or the hot hot salsas… proud of it! Another thing my companion thinks im crazy for 😉
– Still got ice cream from Bishop Tobler this week (he insists the tradition will never die…)
– I HIT MY 9th MONTH MARK!!! Que Loca!
Love you all! Im going to go play some volleyball/frisbee/football/ninja/whateverelsewewant at the park with my zone now 🙂
Have a good week!
-Hermana McRae